Originally my first post on this site was about dealing with my scarring on my body, After seeing a few specialists about treating the scars I realized I was still breaking out a little bit on my back/shoulder and chest. Not really cystic but smaller deep acne that took FOREVER to heal. I even had a few pop up on my arm and stomach even which is super random so I am definitely not dealing with this sh%t on top of all other issues..

I realized there is no way I could undergo scar treatment as I am almost certain I will get a breakout from it.

I also realized I had been on Antibiotics for a long a$$ time. I can't even remember how long. 5-6 years most likely.

I am sick of it, I am probably not going to grow out of it, Accutane it is (Clarivis).

I quit antibiotics cold turkey two days ago, took my first pill yesterday, second today. In my reading and talking to Derms I decided to start with 20mg a day for a month as it seems to limit any break outs so this is what I am Doing.

So.. Here it is:

Friday 7/26

Day -3: Found first Derm I could get in with, told her give me the Tane, nothing works and if you aren't for it, I will go somewhere else. Got it no problem after doing silly paperwork. LOL @ the red tape.

Got blood work, was a little nervous of results although I eat healthy, exercise, feel fine etc.. I am not sure why but I was slightly afraid something would come back off and I couldn't go on the pill or worse LOL.. Will have results Monday and start Monday assuming all was good.

Monday 7/29

Day 1: I was on a flight all morning, got a MSG on landing from doc saying "to call regarding bloodwork" of course I assume it is bad news LOL and can't get through for 6 hours. Finally reach someone and she said it is all perfect and they were calling in the script.. I even asked if anything was a little different or if there's any health issue I maybe need to watch and she firmly said "NO its all good." Not sure why the message was like that but it is my funny paranoia maybe now that I think back.

Took first pill with Peanut Butter and a big meal. No side effects whatsoever.

Day 2: Second pill down, PB and eggs for B fast with some veggies and fruit.

No break outs, no side effects, did notice my forehead is a little bumpy when I touch it though, can't see anything, my guess is a few black heads getting pushed up. I think I only have two active pimples now from before accutane and they are not really doing anything different, one may have shrunk a little sooner but who knows. Skin might be a little red like I am dehydrated but maybe I am just dehydrated, again, nothing I can really pin point to Accutane.

I am hopeful it will just start working and I won't have any IB as my derm said this is usually her experience with older patients who have been on a regime and start low but only time will tell.

Day 3: 7/31 Took third pill with a big breakfast of eggs, fruit, and toast, also ate some almond butter to get some extra fat. Still absolutely NO side effects. NO breakouts. My skin actually looks better if anything. I had a couple small blemishes Monday and it seems they shrunk faster than usual even. No active acne as of now, just some left over red marks.

Good luck, the older you are the more successful accutane is so you should end up completely clear. Antibiotics can still stay in the body for about a week after you stop taking them too so you probably wouldn't notice an IB for at least a week or two.Hopefully you get lucky and don't get an IB.

Good luck to you! I am also 30 years old and on Accutane so I feel your pain. I am in my fifth month, hoping to be done in a week or so but it will depend on my next dermatologist appointment, I may have to extend a month. If you ever have any questions or need to vent, I'd be happy to listen. =)

Hey Everything. Curious what dosage etc and what the course was like? My derm keeps insisting I will have an easy time and will probably not experience any problems or breakouts even. She said older people who take it usually just start clearing right away when starting with a small dose. Plus eating and being healthy helps apparently.

I actually asked to get on a different antibiotic for a month to avoid an explosion but she would not go for it. I was given Clindamycin, I used it once, it is horrible so was a big waste of $$.

I am have been on 40mg/day for the past 5 months. I am 50kg. I have an appointment with my dermatologist at the end of this week to see if I need to extend to 6 months. I'm hoping I can just be done...

I did not have an initial breakout but I had been on an antibiotic for three months prior to starting Accutane so that may have helped. I was fortunate that my skin pretty much started clearing up right away. I had a couple of mild breakouts during my first month but they were no worse than usual (actually, not as bad as usual) and they may have been due to me experimenting with different moisturizers. Since that first month, I have had two pimples. Both cleared up fairly quickly but were my typical inflammatory, hyper-pigmenting acne.

As far as side effects go, the first things I noticed were dry throat/increased thirst and my hair & scalp got super dry and flaky. My eyes got a bit dry and then I started getting headaches and feeling really tired. The headaches went away in a week or two, my eyes adjusted and the thirst became manageable. I switched shampoos and conditioners (if you need recommendations, let me know). =) The fatigue has never gone away. In the second and third months I started getting some joint aches and pains and again, the fatigue. My skin got more dry at that point (although it's never been miserably dry--I had dry skin to begin with) and my lips started getting horribly, horribly dry in the second month. They also burned like they were on fire. Thankfully that has gotten better! The joint pain also went away sometime in the third month. I also noticed I was a bit over-emotional in the third month, a little tearful. In my fourth and fifth months I've just been dealing with fatigue, a feeling of brain fog and some irritability. My skin looks really good but I'm ready to be done with the medication.

As far as my labwork is concerned, my cholesterol and triglycerides have been elevated the past two months but not enough to have to discontinue.

Day 4-- No side FX. No breakout. Honestly it seems it is actually helping keep me clear already because I usually would have some sort of blemish somewhere on my body by now without the antibiotics, even with them it would be likely. I have only been taking 20MG and I am 175lbs. I have been taking it with a high fat meal as directed.

Day 5-6-- Nothing really to report. I have noticed a couple really small blemishes in some random spots popping up but they're hardly noticeable and seem to shrink really fast. No side FX. I feel fine and am not even dry really but I am only showering now once a day instead of twice to combat that. I still use a very very light coat of BP in trouble areas once a day but also a lot of moisturizer on top of it. I am also using BHA wash once a day.

I think the pills are pretty much in my body and already kind of working. Besides not breaking out even though I am off tetra and using less products I wouldn't even know I am on them.

Day 7-8-- No side FX. Skin is about the same as before. Maybe slightly better, hard to tell. If someone told me I was taking a placebo I would probably believe them. Haha. How long does this take to kick in? I am thinking of asking my Doc to up the dose next week if this is still the case so I can at least have a shorter cycle.

One thing I have noticed is I had a weird pimple form the first day, it is a small really deep white head type that seems to not be doing anything at all. I don't want to extract anything from it but it hurts to the touch and had pretty much been dormant despite all the products I have hit it with. This could happen without the accutane too though so I can't really call this a side effect.

Day 8-16-- Not much to report. My skin is pretty much the same as before the accutane when I was on Tetra.. EXCEPT for one crazy thing that happened on Day 11-- I woke up with a HUGE cystor whatever you may want to call it. To be honest, I was actually thinking I may have been bit by some insect or having a allergic reaction. It was as big as a quarter, hard, and under my chin on the right side and came out of no where. I washed my face, went to bed, woke up 5 hrs later and it was in full force. I was out of town and unable to get to a Derm for 2 days. She wasn't even really convinced it was a cyst and actually gave me a check up and thought maybe it was some weird abscess from a tooth. I was able to talk her into giving me an injection. It shrunk quite a lot since then and I am convinced it will go away.. PHEW!!

Skin is slightly better maybe or the same since I have been on accutane. Not worse.

I am still using BP, and SA Body wash sometimes. I have not had any dryness. My lips are slightly chapped maybe but I am not even sure I can blame it on the accutane. I has stomach cramps the other day but I also ate a ton of fiber and did some strenuous activities so that can't be blamed either and I have felt the exact same cramping before. So far so good.

Day 16-25-- 25 days of 20 mg accutane down. Nothing really to note, My skin is about the same as it was before accutane. I guess it is better in some ways like my overall skin tone, and worse maybe in some since I have a couple large lumps but I am lucky that they are both in places that can't be seen. One in the hairline, one under chin hair. I guess i would say it is the same if anything.

Took blood test today, I don't expect any problems there so I should be starting a higher dose in 5 days.

No side FX really either. lips are kind of dry but honestly it might be from over applying chap stick because everyone says I need to use it.. LOL.. I started moisturizing every day at first but that actually just made me greasy. I don't even really need to moisturize.

Day 25-34: Started 2nd month of accutane. Originally the derm wanted to only give me 30mg. I talked her into 40mg. She was quite offended when I mentioned I wanted to do a higher dose and a higher cumulative dose but at least she bumped it a little this months. I am not sure what to do/say about the cumulative dose as she wants me to take 60mg for 3 months after this for a total of only 7200mg. This is slightly less than 100mg per KG of body weight. She won't really listen and says my acne is not severe. I guess I will just plead with her to give me one more month after the 5th.

Anyways, no side affects still other than mild chapped lips. Blood work is good still. I got a huge cyst on the front of my shoulder like I haven't had in a long time. Other than that been relatively clear so I assume I got no IB or anything like that so that's good.

Day 82: Haven't reported anything in a while, mainly due to having nothing to report.

Started 80mg a day about 3.5 weeks ago. Still no side FX really other than slightly dry lips. Chap stick is enough to remedy this. Skin is completely clear on the face and neck. I have only about 1 active on my whole body so I would say it has improved too.

Blood work has been good. No changes. No other changes to note either. Overall my skin feels smoother it seems.

I still use whatever products I need to with 0 irritation. I still spot treat with BP with 0 issues. I plan on phasing out the BP with the next week or two if my skin stays clear.

Hopefully I can finish the course without any side effects other than the dry lips.

Keep posting!! It's nice to see someone around my age going through the same thing! I'll be starting in a month, just took my first blood test yesterday & will be taking another one in 4 weeks & then I'll start. I'm 31F 105lbs and will be on 60mg/day for 5 months. So...good luck to you and I'll be following along!